According to North Prefecture Crime Bureau Maj. Toomas Jervson, a regrettably large portion of found or recovered stolen items remain unreturned to their owners for various reasons.

Jervson told ERR's online news portal that the first obstacle to returning these items is theft victims themselves not filing a police report for one of many reasons.

"Many people cannot be bothered to submit a police report or consider the stolen item to have little value," explained Jervson. "Although submitting a report has been made as fast and convenient as possible — for example, it can be submitted online on the police homepage."

According to Jervson, it does not matter whether a bicycle costs 50 or 500 euros, as every bit of info is important to police, and the more information they have regarding thefts, the more likely they are to catch the thief.

"Police can investigate isolated cases separately, but a thief can often be profiled thanks to a set of analyzed information," said the police major. "The more episodes of theft we can attribute to a suspect, the more likely we can prosecute them and the prosecuting authority in turn can request the appropriate punishment in court."

According to him, the return of found or recovered items may also be hampered when theft victims are unable to describe their items clearly or precisely enough — for example, if the only detail someone can provide about their stolen bike is its color.

"The police can only return property to its owner after we have made completely certain to whom it belongs," explained Jervson. "A police report is one of the first conditions which must be met. Likewise the owner must be able to describe the item, for example a bike's distinguishing features, including its serial number [as stamped on its frame]. Also helpful would be a purchase receipt, and a simple additional help would be photo evidence of the item."

A database of found and recovered items can be found on the Police and Border Guard Board's homepage (link in Estonian).

This week, Estonia's ESTPLA-22 infantry platoon began patrolling in Southern Lebanon as a part of the joint Finnish-Irish Battalion serving on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission in the region.

President Kersti Kaljulaid met with Mikhail Khodorkovsky at the annual conference of the Estonian Institute of Human Rights on Friday. Khodorkovsky is currently in Estonia for a conference of his Open Russia foundation.

Beginning in the new year, pensioners who wish to have their monthly pension payment delivered to them at home in cash will have to pay 6.6 euros for the service — an over one-euro increase on the current cost of 5.25 euros.

Latvian and Russian officials met on Thursday to talk about border tensions, just a day after a meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers in Brussels. The bilateral talks concentrated on the security situation along the countries’ border, the Latvian defense ministry confirmed.

Center Party MP Toomas Vitsut was elected chairman of the Riigikogu’s European Union Affairs Committee on Friday. Jaak Madison of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party was confirmed deputy chairman.

While Reform MEP Kaja Kallas has expressed her support for Hanno Pevkur as the next chairman of the Reform Party, former party chairmen Andrus Ansip and Taavi Rõivas have both thrown their support behind Kristen Michal.

The two ministers in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Kadri Simson (Center) and Urve Palo (SDE), announced on Friday that they were recalling all members of the Riigikogu currently serving on state company supervisory boards.

Increased publicity led the Center Party to earn the highest ratings of the year at the beginning of December, while support for both the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) and the Free Party reached new lows for the year, the results of a nationwide poll commissioned by ERR’s online news portal and conducted by Turu-uuringute AS show.

Between January and Dec. 8 of 2016, ahead of the expected impending implementation of visa freedom by the EU, Estonia issued visas to a combined total of just under 15,000 citizens of either Georgia or Ukraine.

The leadership of Estonia's Center Party endorsed Tarmo Tamm as a candidate for the post of Minister of Rural Affairs on Thursday, likewise proposing that Kersti Sarapuu be elected as head of the party's parliamentary group, the position Tamm would be vacating.

Center Party Deputy Chairman and Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps said on ETV program "Kahekõne" on Thursday night that the party's cooperation protocol with Russia's ruling party United Russia is of symbolic significance for Estonia's Russian-speaking population and the party does not dare revoke it.

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu has decided to invite Prosecutor General Lavly Perling to join its meeting on Monday to discuss with her the leaking to the media of information with limited access gathered in the course of a criminal investigation as well as the ensuring of fair justice.

On his first visit abroad, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) stressed the importance of Estonia’s relationship with Finland, and the need that both countries continue to work on bilateral projects. He also thanked his Finnish counterpart, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, for his personal contribution to the countries’ joint infrastructure projects.

According to allegations against him, Tallinna TV (TTV) CEO Toomas Lepp sold the TV program "Vaba mõtte klubi" ("Free Thought Club") back to the TV channel he headed via acquaintances' missing traders while still having Tallinna TV cover production costs.

The party’s secretary general, Jaak Aab, said that it wasn’t yet clear whether or not former chairman Edgar Savisaar would be helped financially to cover his legal costs. According to Aab, the party is looking into the legal costs as well as its means to help Savisaar.

Businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky-founded "Open Russia," a nationwide community platform focusing on issues such as independent media, political education and the rule of law in Russia, awarded its journalism prizes at an event held at the House of the Blackheads in Tallinn on Wednesday.

President Kersti Kaljulaid met with French president François Hollande on Wednesday. The heads of state discussed the future of the European Union and its role in world politics. Security issues, cyber security, and the potential of e-government services were on the agenda as well.

The Munich Security Conference announced on Wednesday that former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves joined their advisory council. The conference is one of the most important of its kind in the world.

In Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser also met with Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikheil Janelidze, with whom he discussed Estonian-Georgian relations, Georgia's integration with the EU and NATO as well as Estonia's upcoming presidency of the EU.

Minister of Public Administration Mihhail Korb visited a number of municipalities and met with local government leaders in Western Estonia’s Pärnu County on Tuesday in order to get a better overview of how the administrative reform is going.

The leadership of Estonia's Center Party decided unanimously on Tuesday that the party must sell the building of its headquarters in Tallinn's medieval Old Town in order to improve its financial standing.

According to Mailis Reps, a member of the Center Party’s leadership who had read the statement of charges against Tallinn ex-mayor and former longtime party chairman Edgar Savisaar, the latter had been acting solo in the organization of party financing in recent years, with the party leadership unaware of his activities.

The Riigikogu’s Financial Affairs Committee on Tuesday supported the coalition’s proposed tax changes. According to the committee’s chairman, Mihhail Stalnuhhin (Center), the decision was voted on after a heated debate. The bill proposes substantial changes to the Estonian taxation system.